Review: MFA exhibition offers kaleidoscopic variety

A display as ambitious and thought-provoking as the 2014 MFA Thesis Exhibition can be hard to pin down, as it should be. The works of the graduate students of UMD's College of Visual and Performing Arts are so, delightfully, "all over the place" in terms of media (video, painting, printmaking, book arts, ceramics, woodworking, sculpture and so on) and approach as to defy label.

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By Don Wilkinson

southcoasttoday.com

By Don Wilkinson

Posted Apr. 10, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Don Wilkinson

Posted Apr. 10, 2014 at 12:01 AM

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A display as ambitious and thought-provoking as the 2014 MFA Thesis Exhibition can be hard to pin down, as it should be. The works of the graduate students of UMD's College of Visual and Performing Arts are so, delightfully, "all over the place" in terms of media (video, painting, printmaking, book arts, ceramics, woodworking, sculpture and so on) and approach as to defy label.

However, as guest-curated by Art New England Editor-in-Chief Judith Tolnick Champa, if there is a unifying theme, if would be the concept of juncture.

Junctures between nostalgia and the future, between the male gaze and female autonomy, between contemplation and utilitarianism, between the bold and the subtle, and between the personal and the political (among others) are all evident.

The acrylic paintings of Adrian Francis Poole swim deep into the joys of childhood. "Almost Too Much" assembles 16 18-by-24-inch panels to form a devotional to pop culture. Within the panels lurk action figures, toy soldiers, robots and dinosaurs. The juncture explored is the one between the boy of the past and the man of the present, not quite yet ready to let go of magic. Sculptor Aaron Badham's 3-D works, made from polychrome inflated steel, MDF and rubber, all resonate with an exuberance for toys, as well as tools and other gadgets. His brightly hued sculptures bring to mind spark plugs, an arcade game claw "¦ even a teething ring.

Kat Knudsen's series of tondos (round paintings) are a celebration of male beauty and cleverly subverts the old cliche of the "male gaze." In "Versatile," a handsome man (with more than a passing resemblance to the late Freddie Mercury, front man for the band Queen) sips tea from an elegant cup and stares back directly at the viewer, knowingly and longingly.

Graphic designer Alain Blunt's prints are a series of infant "onesies" with loaded and clever slogans that address gender politics, racial issues, and questions about parenthood itself. The sayings include "Future Bully Victim," "High Status White Baby," and "I'm With the Gaysian." Los Angeles-born jeweler and metalsmith Monica M. Guerra revolves around her Chicano heritage, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The lovely "Pinto" is an ornate necklace that marries the preciousness of sterling silver to the commonness of dried pinto beans, a staple of Mexican-American cuisine. Her "Crown Jewels of Mexico" is a tiara of dirt and tiny brass shovels, clearly referencing the significance of the immigrant population of the nation's agricultural prowess.

Fabric artist Jo Anna L. Hickman's "Cut Off" features a line of embroidered text, black thread on white linen, that reads: " I didn't even get a chance to s"¦" (a Lou Reed reference?) until the point where the fabric folds back over on itself, obscuring the line. It is covered with a stiffening agent which alters its color, stark white dulls to ugly gray.

Bryan Fitzpatrick Geary's blur distinctions between furniture and sculpture. In "Ostracized," chairs merge with table. Is it utilitatian or contemplative? Perhaps both. But a vase that cannot hold water is a sculpture, and a chair that cannot be sat on is a a similar creature. Nonetheless, his craftsmanship and attention to detail is remarkable.

It is seems unfair to not mention all of the gifted students included in the exhibition, but alas space considerations hamper the effort. Other notable works: Roy St. Christopher Rossow's sweet and luminous landscapes of New Bedford and Fairhaven; Kaitlyn L. Evans' "To Carry On," a silver, copper and enamel work as seductive as an oyster; Sam Kelly's DeKooning-esque charcoal figure drawings; Leslie Macklin's astounding ceramic works (a wrought iiron fence made of what?); Evan Demarzo's romanticized Old West tableaux. Had I but 600 more words.

The 2014 MFA Thesis Exhibition is on display at the University Art Gallery, 715 Purchase St., until May 18.

Don Wilkinson is a painter and art critic who lives in New Bedford. Contact him at Don.Wilkinson@gmail.com